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UNITED STATES EMMERIOH A. WERNER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ATENT FFICE.

BRIDGE.

.SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 329,249, dated October 27, 1885.

Application filed October 10, 1884. Serial No. 145,186. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMMERIOH A.WERNER, a citizen of Germany, and a resident of New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bridges, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to reduce the span d d of any bridge-girder into two spans of together the length of the opening which must be bridged, without the aid of piers or abutments resting on the ground between the abutments d d by means of a suspended abutment formed of two inclined struts and two ordinary beams having both together the length of the opening which must be spanned.

Figure 1 of the annexed drawings is a side view of my improved bridge. Fig. 2 is aplan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a section of the same through the middle of the span.

A A are the two inclined struts; B B, the two girders or beams, which can have any form. They rest in the ordinary way on the abutments d d, and are supported on the other end, e, by the inclined struts, by means of the rods b 1), connecting the end of the trusses with the top of the struts. G is the roadway, supported by the two beams. It is evident that in this way any span can be divided into two smaller spans of together the length of the total opening which must be spanned. The struts must resist the pressure of the weight of the two beams connected with their top by means of the rods 1) b. The struts will be constructed as any compressionstrut, and may have any suitable form, and may be stiffened out in any suitable way to resist the pressure brought upon them. The struts can be inclined under any angle against the abutments on which their foot is fastened in any suitable way. The struts can lie in the plane of the girders, or, as shown in the figures, in an inclined plane, so that the foot is farther apart than the top. The top of the struts is hinged together in any suitable way to support by suitable means the end of the two girders, and the top of the struts can lie above, as shown in the drawings,or below the end of the two trusses. The drawings show only one arrangement. Various other forms and arrangements, according to the purposes, may be used. The foot of the struts may lie in the same height as the abutments of the beams, or the foot of the struts may be connected by a rod, or a, to save the expenses of stronger abutments. The two girders or beams carrying the roadway can have any form. They are ordinary beams as now in use, acting under the loads exactly as any ordinary beam of the corresponding span, differing in no way from thebeams now in use. They are supported at the abutments in the ordinary way.

In using the two struts and dividing the total length which must be spanned into two smaller openings, with a suspended abutment or pier, I reduce the forces acting in the two beams which carry the roadway in proportion spans, and by these means lower the amount of metal and the expense of bridging the opening.

Having thus described my inventi0n,what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

' .1. The combination of two struts united at 'and resting on abutments or analogous supports, andtwo ordinary girders or beams, both having their inner or adjacent ends supported by rods from the'top of the struts, the land ends of the beams or girders resting on abutments or analogous supports, and said beams or girders being otherwise independent of said inclined struts, substantially as described herein, and for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination of two ordinary beams or girders of any description, with two struts of suitable form inclined under any angle against the abutments, and hinged together at the top to support by suitable means the two beams carrying any road over an opening of given length, without the aid of intermediary supports resting on the ground, the struts being inclined to", the vertical planes of the girders, substantially as described herein, and for the purposes set forth.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 8th day of October, A. D. 1884.

EMMERIOH A. WERNER.

Witnesses:

J. J ULIUs FIRSCHING, HERMAN MILLER.

of the squares of the original and smaller their upper ends, and inclined to each other, 7 

